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U.S. PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL S&T COOPERATION 21 



same token, agreement on cooperative research permits the pooling of 

 research talent and/or facilities to produce results beyond the capabil- 

 ities of any one country or university and avoids needless duplication 

 of effort. The sharing of costs for construction of facilities becomes 

 especially critical for "Big Science" projects. Significant cooperation 

 often brings with it, too, a higher level of visibility to areas of scien- 

 tific inquiry that may lead to improved future funding prospects. 

 (There is a danger, however, that the greater visibility and appeal of 

 "Big Science" projects may have a deleterious effect on the health of 

 smaller-scale scientific cooperation.) Finally, higher levels of activity 

 in a given field also increase the chances of "spin-off" research initia- 

 tives' yielding unexpected breakthroughs. 



The opportunity to interact and exchange ideas is in itself a benefit 

 of international science, because it expands the familiarity of U.S. per- 

 sonnel with the work of foreign colleagues (and, of course, vice 

 versa). This, in turn, increases the likelihood of future cooperative re- 

 lationships. The sharing of new or modified approaches is the founda- 

 tion of scientific intercourse, and the awareness that other groups in 

 other countries are working on the same or similar approaches can 

 also prove to be a powerful motivating factor governing the pace of 

 research. Finally, the knowledge that a particular approach is being 

 pursued with success elsewhere may lend legitimacy and influence to 

 project proposals. Witness, for example, the redirection of the U.S. 

 fusion program towards the Tokamak concept after the exchange of 

 information with Soviet scientists. 



Many of the costs of cooperation are mirror images of the benefits. 

 For example, there are opportunity costs involved in committing per- 

 sonnel and equipment to a joint research project when these resources 

 might have been assigned to other tasks. Similarly, there are what 

 might be called "development" costs associated with sharing informa- 

 tion and/or ideas produced previously under other auspices and, pre- 

 sumably, other financing. In fact, part of the motivation for the recent 

 attempts to stem the flow of unwanted technology transfer in the 

 United States has been the concern over the lack of compensation for 

 the sizable capital and time investment involved in developing the 

 S&T information supposedly being "lost." 



Little need be said about the direct costs of participating in interna- 

 tional S&T projects, which involve primarily personnel, facilities, and 

 equipment. It should be noted, however, that it is often not so much 

 the capital outlay itself which is viewed as a liability as it is the loss of 

 control over R&D resources. Such concern becomes paramount in 

 cases where resources are channeled through or controlled by an inter- 



